How to Ride a Bike
by LitLover 101
Summary: AH Elijah Mikaelson has a lot on his mind when he meets a little human girl, Hayley Marshall, who needs a helping hand. One-shot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**The **__**Originals**_**. That honor goes to Julie Plec, Michael Narducci and the CW.**

**Hello, my lovely readers. This is just a little random thing I wrote. I hope that you enjoy and I'm going to try to write some more Haylijah one-shots to get back into writing. On with the show…**

**How to Ride a Bike:**

Walking down a street that was not particularly interesting in a town was that of equal interest to the thousand year old vampire, Elijah Mikaelson was lost in thought. He was thinking of how bittersweet the taste of justice would be when he finally ended his brother, Niklaus,' life. He had tried to save Klaus from himself but all his attempts had failed one by one until his younger brother had explained that their siblings were dead. Gone into the depths of a deep, blue sea. Now, all Elijah could think of was revenge.

When the cry met his ears he thought little of it. It was simply the cry of a child whose parents had told him or her it was time to come inside or that they were exhausted. Whatever it might be it was not Elijah's problem. Elijah's only problem was Niklaus.

Hearing the sound of quiet sniffles and whimpering that had yet to be answered, Elijah sighed. Looking up from the gray, chipped sidewalk that he had been walking along he spotted a child of five, maybe six, sitting alone beside an overturned bicycle. The little girl was not wearing a helmet and he could spy blood coursing down her cheek and on her palm.

Glancing around, Elijah did not spot any concerned parents coming to the child's rescue. Ordinarily Elijah would walk away. She was just a little girl. There were many little girls in the world that Elijah had turned a blind eye to because the world was a wide place and there were many plights that would run the risk of exposure. This one was not going to die. This was simply a mundane accident that happened every day of the week. And what would people say if they saw a grown man talking to the little girl…

Shaking his head, Elijah turned away from the child when he heard her whimper again. Gritting his teeth he had a vision of Rebekah, his baby sister, falling over a rock when she was the same age and screaming bloody murder. Feeling the left side of his mouth lift upward in a smile, he whirled on a heel and arrived in front of the child in mere minutes.

The little girl looked up at him with large blue eyes. "I hurt my head," she told him without a shred of fear or concern and Elijah wondered how in this age her parents had not made her aware of strangers.

"I can see that," Elijah told her.

"I don't usually fall down but my daddy just took the training wheels off my bike. He said he'd teach me how to ride today, but I couldn't wait any longer. I need to be able to ride it like a big girl now," the child explained, placing her hand to her forehead and hissing in pain.

"You know that you are very young and that there will be many days that you can learn how to ride your bike," Elijah told her, kneeling down so they were face to face.

Looking at Elijah, the child frowned. "That's not true. My fishy, Mr. Gold died weeks ago and he didn't come back. My mommy flushed him down the toilet. And my friend, Jenny, her doggy, Max, died last year. And my grandpa, too. They're gone. So you have to do things now 'cause you might not get to later." Folding her arms over her chest, the child jutted her chin out.

"Really?" Elijah found himself smiling. This little girl was certainly not like many he had encountered. He found he was impressed. Leaning forward, he acted as if he were examining the cut on the child's head even though he could, in fact, see the damage from where he was or if he was ten yards away. "Would you like me to fix your cut?" he asked not really knowing why he was offering.

"How? Are you a doctor?" the child's eyes widened with curiosity.

"No, I am not a doctor. But I can heal you if you promise to not tell anyone how. Can you do that for me?" Elijah asked quietly.

The child cocked her head to the side, examining Elijah for a long moment as if she were assessing him. "Okay. I guess," she said after a long pause. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to feed you my blood," Elijah told her simply. When the child did not run away screaming he was pleased that he would not have to find her and compel her memories away.

"Really? Why?" the child asked.

"Because my blood will heal you," he told her.

The child's lips curved upward into a wide smile. "Like magic? Is your blood magical? Are you a wizard like Harry Potter only with magic blood instead of a wand?"

"Aren't you a little young to be a Harry Potter fan?" Elijah teased while rolling up a sleeve and biting into his wrist.

"No," she replied. The little girl took hold of his wrist she drank and then pulled away. Wiping her mouth, her face wrinkled up. "That's gross."

"So are parts of Harry Potter," Elijah said with a smile.

Touching her forehead, the child grinned, "It worked," she proclaimed, getting to her feet, she wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck. Patting the child's back, Elijah felt odd. A child had not hugged him since his brother, Henrick, had been killed. "Thank you," the girl whispered into his ear. Pulling back, she looked at him. "I want to know how you did that?"

"I'm a vampire," Elijah told her having no idea why he was entrusting his secret to a small child. Perhaps it was because anyone she told would think she had an active imagination. Perhaps.

"Cool," the girl said. "I'm Hayley, Mr. Vampire," she held out a hand for him to shake and again, Elijah was amused.

"I am Elijah Mikaelson," Elijah told her. "Now, shall we try to ride that bike again?"

"No. I don't want to fall again," she shook her head back and forth, her long, dark waves flying back and forth.

"You're not afraid of a vampire but you are afraid of riding a bike," Elijah quirked an eyebrow when the child's eyes flashed with anger.

"I'm not afraid of anything," she said stubbornly.

"Good. Your bike awaits," Elijah righted the bike and waited with his hands on the handlebars.

Hayley drew in a deep breath before climbing onto the bike and staring into Elijah's eyes. "Okay," she whispered. "But if I fall again, then you have to promise that you will stay and fix me," she thrust out a pinky finger.

Wrapping his own pinky around Hayley's, Elijah stared back at her fierce expression. "I will protect you. Always."

"Always and forever," Hayley said and before Elijah could reply, she was pushing down on the pedals. Letting go, he moved aside so she could begin down the sidewalk. Walking along beside Hayley, he caught the handlebar when the bike began to tip. Hayley looked up at him with a smile.

After a couple of minutes, Elijah was able to let go as Hayley began to move faster and faster. "Look, Elijah. I'm riding," she cried with a laugh.

"I can see that," he called after her. He watched her ride back and when she pulled up in front of the garage she turned to find that he was gone from her sight. He saw the look of disappointment on her face before she disappeared inside her house.

**Three days later: **

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Elijah watched a man watching his little girl riding up and down the sidewalk of their street and for a moment he felt almost human. Almost. And in that moment, he felt at peace with the world as a little girl yelled in triumph as she sped back and forth, her long hair flying in the breeze.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and for reviewing. **

**Peace,**

**Jessica**


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